Pain.
There are so many variations.
Pain in the ass.
Painful memory.
Growing pains.
Emotional pain.
Busted teeth pain.
Broken skin pain.
Ruptured Achilles tendon pain.
Snapped collar bone pain.
Post surgery pain.
Lost a great companion pain.
Lost a loved one pain.
Excruciating pain.
Inconsolable pain.
Subsiding pain.
And yet, there are the variations of pain that you welcome into your life.
Getting back into shape pain.
Post workout pain.
Rode my first century pain.
Pain that makes you stronger.
The good pain.
Cycling creates the good pain that starts in your heart, then moves to your lungs, legs, back and arms. It’s a pain that separates you from ordinary. It drives you to explore motivation, redemption, and the unknown.
To call it a good pain is not enough. It’s a sweet pain. Hardly a bitter pain. It’s a pain that comforts after tapping you on the shoulder as if to say “well done.”
I think it’s the best pain. Pain cave is the Wednesday crave.
Related posts:
- How to transcend pain Suffering on a bike at the most intense moments can teach you to transcend pain. Physical. Mental. And, yes, the unidentifiable. But first you have to believe that it’s possible. Here’s four ways I try to tap into Zen moments on the bike when training: Pick roads that you’ll never...
- Recovery cave Pain cave says all you need to know. When I hear the two words, I immediately think of this: Someone on a trainer indoors. They’re producing big watts. It hurts. Pretty bad, if ask them. I rarely visit that pain cave. Southern California just works out that way. I prefer...
- Payback Cycling gives you as much as you give it. Put something in. Get something back. No questions asked. It happens. You can’t force it. Ride in a pace line like the strongest of domestiques, and you enjoy protection from the elements when you rotate to the back. Go up a climb...
- Success would be the best revenge The title of this post is a quote from Author Unknown–at least as far I know. Why write a blog post about revenge on a site that celebrates all things cycling? Here’s why: the verbal war in the last 48 hours between cyclists and sports radio talk show host can’t...
- Borrego Double Ordeal At precisely 166.3 miles and 12,500 feet of climbing, I came to understand why the Borrego Double Ordeal is named as such. Six miles shy the historic mining town of Julian, California at 4,000 feet elevation — outside of San Diego — I had a huge cramp. In my brain....
